Find out the history behind the fairytale dress and understand why it is what it is today. Understand the traditions and then decide how you want your buig day to be.

The Wedding Dress is not just a stunning dress made to ensure that all eyes are on the bride. Through history, fashions have come and gone, superstitions have been established and different religions and cultures have all contributed to the wedding dress of today.

All White
Today the most popular, and some would say traditional colour for a wedding dress, is white. In England this colour became popular after Queen Victoria married Albert of Saxe in 1840 dressed in white. However, at times during history, women wore their best dress or a different coloured dress for practical reasons. In England during the Industrial Revolution and at the time of World War One, women also reused their dresses by dyeing them a different colour after the wedding.

In China and India wedding dresses where traditionally red, which symbolises good luck. But these days brides choose different colours and even western designs for their special day.

Superstitions
Historically, wedding dresses come with their own set of superstitions. The brides outfit is influenced by the saying 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe'. Brides honour this by wearing something blue borrowing something important and putting some money in the bridal shoe for luck.

Another superstition relates to the veil. Originally worn by the Romans, a veil was used to confuse evil spirits and protect the bride.

It is also tradition for the groom to not see the bride until the wedding day and a lot of people follow these superstitions.

Wedding Dress Fashions
During the 1800's, wedding dress fashions consisted of a corset and floor length gown; then
in 1920 Coco Chanel introduced the ultra modern and ground breaking knee length wedding dress with a floor length gown. It is thought to be good luck to leave a few stitches unfinished on the dress to do on the day.